


The Madness In Us

by FrostPrince



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Gen, Original Character(s), POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2015-08-14
Packaged: 2018-04-14 16:52:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4572240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrostPrince/pseuds/FrostPrince
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some inner demons just can't seem to shut the hell up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Madness In Us

**Author's Note:**

> This one shot is for my friend and involves their OCs. The protagonist's village was destroyed by Medusa, who then implanted black blood in her to see the side effects. The protagonist helped kill her with Stein, but this came with a maddening side effect...

In the blue-tinted haze of night, she stood on the balcony. The mental ghost of her worst enemy taunted her in the corner of her eye.

Ugh.

Her hand reflexively reached out for the reassuring feel of Akari’s weapon form, but Haku’s partner was currently tending to a headache in bed. If only the solution were as simple as stabbing the space beside her, just shoving a few inches of soul-reaping metal up Medusa’s incorporeal ass. Or maybe she had to direct a deadly weapon towards herself, and that would get rid of the witch? By clawing into her own fucked-up brain and pulling the untouchable madness out of there?

“It won’t work.”

The words were fittingly corrosive, as if they were venom poured down the teen girl’s throat. A forked tongue jutted out from a mouth sculpted with inhuman brilliance, brushing the curve of her upper lip. It was an almost graceful, pensive gesture, like somewhere deep within the witch’s non-existent mind was the ability to understand what Haku was going through. As if Medusa totally wasn’t going through Haku’s hall of mirrors, shattering each one until imperfect, cracked reflections bore holes into her soul. With each mirror disappearing, so too did the optimism and determination.

The insane projection before her didn’t care. She only offered a wolfish grin and leaned in close. The faint hairs on Haku’s ears felt fake breaths.

“You know, you’re the one who’s at fault for what happened.”

Haku tensed, digging her thumb nails into her pointer fingers. She exuded impatience and concealed despair. “What makes you say that?”

“Well.” Medusa let the single-syllable word dance through the air a bit. “If you had been there to stop me, everyone you knew would’ve stayed alive.”

“You killed them!” Oh god, there she went again. Holding screaming matches with her inner demons wasn’t a habit Haku had wanted to make, but here she was for the umpteenth time, with a persistent pounding against her chest and a revolting taste on the roof of her mouth.

“Every move I make is calculated,” Medusa waved her accusation off dismissively. She tiptoed to the side. Her eyes were fixated on the silken streams of moonlight rebounding off the metallic railing. The impossibly youthful-looking woman laced the glow through her fingers as if trying to hold it. “Perhaps what I did was to benefit you, my dear child of madness.”

Haku took an incredulous step back. She was crossing a line that separated Haku’s tolerance from the feeling of personal, philosophical attack.

The meister hissed back at the serpentine figure entrenched in moonlight and apathy. “I lost nearly everyone I loved!” Tears and throbbing sobs. Perfect. “You took my family and my life away! You ruined me! How do you…how do you not see how fucked up that makes someone? How does it help in ANY WAY?”

Medusa opened her mouth, but she had unleashed an unquenchable tempest and there was no steering away. “Every night I fell asleep and you know what I thought? That I couldn’t save them! I know that I couldn’t save them! But I was weak. So I became strong. I did it so someday I could make up for that! Why can’t you understand what this means to me?”

“You know what your problem is?” The witch’s spine went rigid, like a scolding mother to a stubborn child. “You care too much. That’s what been holding you back. You held onto the fear of losing people again, but where has that led you? To worrying about failure? To fearing for your friends’ lives? You’ve restricted yourself with these bonds and it’s eaten away at you. Don’t you think it’s time to let go?”

Her lips turned upward, crookedly. “That’s how you’ll beat me, by the way. How you’ll conquer your mind and get rid of me for good.”

Haku snorted, a half-hearted sort of sound that told of second guessing. She went to clutch the railing like a lifeline, pressing her heels into the cement. Cold seeped through the soles of her shoes and she didn’t know if it came from her environment or the weight of her memories.

“You used your own kid as an experiment,” Haku said. “…How’s loneliness better than love? Didn’t you see him? He wants nothing to do with you. He’s a wreck and you…you ignore it.”

“Love is a means to an end, my sweet,” Medusa mused. Flecks of scanning, golden eyes hinted at themselves through Haku’s periphery. “It’s selfish and hypocritical. But I know better than to believe in fantasies. I use love for power, as it should be.”

“Haku?”

A timid hand, graced with years of refined movements as it performed the same action time and time again, placed itself on Haku’s shoulder. Akari interjected on the debate, blocking Medusa from view.

“Uh, shouldn’t you be in bed?” Haku raised an eyebrow.

Akari gave a smile. “Same to you.”

Haku rolled her eyes but nonetheless returned a smile. It was all teeth and little genuineness. She would’ve liked to make her face come to life a bit more, but that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

“How much did you hear?” Haku asked.

Akari hummed questioningly. Then… “Oh. She’s at it again?”

Akari’s hand moved from Haku’s shoulder to the girl’s own hand. The meister’s tight skin had smooth circles rubbed into it by a gentle thumb, chiselling away at the solid shell.

“I don’t know if this is relevant…or helpful,” Akari began.

Haku instinctively waited.

“But…” The teen weapon inhaled. The words were like a seamless cord of silk, tugging at Haku’s throat, loosening the constricting hold her muscles had on her own body. “You’re strong. You know that right? I mean, you always seem like you know it, but I guess I don’t remind you enough. Instead I kinda tell you off for it. Which you kinda need, to be honest, Ms. Reckless.”

Akari stuck a tongue out. There was no point in denying the truth, so Haku nodded.

“But don’t let that mean that you aren’t right for being…what’s the word? Bold. You know? It’s what makes you you. You don’t give up even when everything says you should. Without that, we probably would’ve gone insane back then.”

“Ha-ha, yeah,” Haku chuckled. Memories surfaced, scenes of lodging in abandoned buildings, of arms shielding their faces of the harsh elements. The period hadn’t been long, but it still showed itself in the way Haku would double-check her surroundings all the time. In the way she solved the nightly problem of an outgrown, independent Akari by pretending someone was letting her sleep in their arms.

Akari pulled. Though it was more of a guiding squeeze of her hand in Haku’s. It directed the two of them to the balcony entrance. Haku stepped inside…

The world dropped from under her feet.

Ominous shades of purple fluctuated all around her. She floated in a chaotic realm where she could smell white and see saltiness. And in the middle of the turmoil was a blue orb.  


Two circles of white radiance adorned the object, one of them with a line cutting through the middle. Reminiscent of a scar. The orb was both awe-striking yet familiar. Haku felt content.

The feeling vanished. A wave, like trudging through mud, hit her. Black clouds formed on the beautiful surface of the dazzling blue orb, wispy slivers worming around like hungry, frenzied creatures.

“You’re weak!” Medusa’s voice reverberated through every inch of space, every facet of Haku’s being.

It was almost intimidating.

Haku floated over to the inviting orb, extending a hand to it. The parts coated in ashen infection shied away from her touch. She punched and swatted and shoved and fought as hard as she could. Violet lightning almost knocked her back, but she only responded with more unwavering force. Weak, my ass.

It didn’t take long to win the battle. A final, wriggling piece of inky madness retreated into her soul, probably to amass more strength and try again later. Haku would be ready.  


She came back to reality. Her hand was still locked in Akari’s.

“I should head back to bed.” Akari rubbed her arm sheepishly. “Will you be okay?”

Haku nodded. As Akari left and entered her room, shutting the door softly, the girl remarked how this time the nod felt sincere.


End file.
